A Fools Dream
by EminentlyPractical
Summary: He couldn't be gone, he simply couldn't. She refused to believe it yet the evidence was proving to suggest that maybe he really had been defeated by a baby. Rated M for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've wanted to do something involving Bella and Lord Voldemort and I think the incident that really started her madness seemed fitting. This will, of course be a multi-chapter the next chapter should hopefully be up within the next few days. I own nothing, all characters and such belong to the wonderful J.K Rowling. I'm not going to beg for reviews but they would be nice.**

*~*~

There comes a point in every person's life when they know that they are destined for greatness, destined for power. For Bellatrix Lestrange (at the time; Black) it was at the age of eleven when her father Cygnus sat her down and told her about Lord Voldemort. It was at that point that she knew she wanted to be a Death Eater, one of the closest to the Dark Lord and by the time she reached Hogwarts she knew more spells then most third years. After all, she did come from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and, while growing up was treated like royalty.

At Hogwarts she knew she was a little different. She was that twisted Black girl who was fascinated with the Dark Arts, who hardly ever handed her homework on time yet always got top marks in all her tests, except for Divination of course which was, after all a useless subject to begin with. No, everyone who knew Bellatrix, even as a young teenager knew that soon enough she would be someone not to mess with, someone to try to avoid.

But now here she was, mere hours after the fall of her master acting as if the very world around her was crashing to the ground. Much to her displeasure she was not alone, other Death Eaters gathered at her younger sister's house, planning what to do next. No one spoke to the woman who was standing by the window closest to the door quite obviously deep in thought. If it wasn't for her all these pathetic people wouldn't even know he was gone yet. That was presuming he was gone after all, she for one simply refused to believe it.

She was there, it had been herself and Bart Crouch Jr who the Dark Lord had requested accompany him, not that he would need any help, they were simply there as a lookout. Their instructions, stay hidden, under no circumstances were they to enter that house and most importantly, keep an eye out for anyone who might have been coming to visit the Potter's and stop them immediately.

And so the pair stood, a couple of toy soldiers standing frozen in the shadows, the witch watching everything unfold before her through the windows and the wizard constantly watching up and down the street, searching for any sign of movement. It had been said that these two were the maddest out of the Death Eaters but what did they know? They weren't _mad_ simply devoted, there was a difference, a big one at that. When the first flash of green light shot from the windows – invisible to everyone else but the inhabitants inside the house and the witch and wizard lurking in the shadows – Bellatrix let out a howl of laughter which echoed down the street causing Barty to jump slightly at the sound. One dead, only two more to go.

Slowly her laughter turned to silence once more as the two Death Eaters watched in anticipation Bellatrix drawing her wand out swiftly pointing it at a bush nearby with had just rustled, sending a streak of blinding green light towards the source of the movement. A manic smile found itself on the witch's lips as she walked over to the bush to examine her work, expecting to see either the dead body of an Auror or an Order of the Phoenix Member only to be disappointed to find the carcass of an ordinary owl. Kicking the creature she turned around to return to her post just in time to hear a woman's scream escape from the top of the window and yet another blinding flash of green light.

Turning to look at each other the two Death Eaters exchanged brief expressions of glory, knowing that their master's work had been completed. Slowly the woman started to walk up to the door of the house, followed closely by Barty, eager to see the Dark Lord again. Seconds pasted and slowly so did the minutes and no movement had been made in the house. Surely her master should be out here by now, his work was done but instead the house was silent. That was until a baby started screaming in the top room.

Without stopping to think of the consequences Bellatrix ran through the non-existent door, knocking varies pieces of furniture over as she made her way through the house and up the stairs towards the nursery her shadow the only thing following her as she did. She didn't know where Barty had gotten to and at the moment she didn't care. All she knew was that minutes had passed since the deathly spell had been shot in the house and her Master hadn't returned yet.

Barging her way into the child's room she found more than a small infant waiting for her. The black haired baby was in the arms of her own disgrace of a cousin, Sirius Black, the woman's body limp on the floor and her Master nowhere to be found. Before she could really take in anything that had happen Bellatrix found herself charging at her cousin, a look of pure hatred in her dark eyes.

"You!" she screamed as she pulled her wand out, aiming it directly at the man's cheat. "What did you do? Where is he?" she screeched taken over by a blind rage. Why was he here? If he had known about the Dark Lord how had he gotten here so fast and most importantly, why hadn't she heard him?

"Voldemort? He's dead dear cousin, killed by a baby." Sirius gloated, ignoring the insanity that had obviously taken over the woman in front of him as he shifted the baby so it would be harder for her to get too.

Before she could react, before she could take in what he had said she heard footsteps running up the staircase, obviously Barty had heard her scream and had come up to see what was going on. She didn't turn around to look at the Death Eater, instead she re-aimed her wand, she wasn't going to continue the taunting that her disgrace of a cousin had started, she wasn't even going to torture him. She was going to kill him, right here and now _then_ take care of the baby who seemed to think this was all just some big game. Yelling the first few letters of the killing curse, Bellatrix felt a firm hand grab hold of her shoulder and the next thing she knew she was, at her sisters Manor, her arm still outstretched ready to kill a man who was no longer there.

"What did you do!?" Bellatrix screamed as she turned around, now face to face with Barty, lowering her wand to her side.

"The Dark Lord told us not to interfere; you wait until he finds out!" Barty yelled back, grabbing hold of Bella's shoulders, in attempt to make her see reason.

"Don't touch me!" the woman shrieked as she removed his hands with her own. "Don't you see? If what Black said was true, which I think it was, He's gone! And you took me away before I could kill my own disgrace of a cousin. _It's all your fault!_" the woman screamed before turning around and running down the hallway.

*~*~

Since the arrival of the Death Eaters Bellatrix hadn't said a word, not even to her sister who had eventually given up on trying to get anything out of her. While the Death Eaters spoke in quiet whispers Bellatrix stood at the window, as if foolishly hoping that any moment now he would turn up and announce the young boy to be dead. But it never happened, he never showed up. Although all reason told her that he wouldn't come back she knew that he couldn't truly be gone and so she stood there her usually alight eyes dead watching for the slightest hint of movement.

It was the early hours of the morning when Bellatrix finally moved raising her hood so it covered her wild hair and her face, making it impossible to recognise who she was. Without a word the Death Eater disappeared in a puff of black smoke, he was out there, somewhere, she just didn't know where.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I know this has been a quick update and although I shall try I can't guarantee that other chapters will be uploaded as quickly. All characters belong to J.K Rowling, I own nothing, blah blah blah**

*~*~

She knew that she would never find her Master in a place like this, she had known that from the moment she arrived there but she couldn't help but feel a small twinge of hope that someone out their knew something about his whereabouts when she, his most faithful, his most loyal Death Eater did not. She would get the answer out of someone, whether they wanted to tell her or not. It wouldn't be the first time the witch would have gotten information that the person had not wanted to reveal, she was rather good when it came to persuading people, one of the best in fact.

And so she walked, in a straight line through the crowds of people all celebrating the disappearance of the Dark Lord, many of them foolish enough to actually believe him to be dead. As if he, Lord Voldemort could have fallen to the power of a baby, it was ridiculous, almost as much as those who actually believed that he was gone. No one recognised the witch as she walked along and if they did they kept quiet about it. The mere fact that people thought they were _safe_ now that he was gone brought a slight smile to the woman's lips. They weren't safe, no one was safe, safe was merely a state of mind, an illusion people dreamed up when nothing had happened in a while.

No, it didn't matter if she was the last Death Eater on earth, which walking through the crowds of chattering witches and wizards it felt like she was, no one would ever be safe again. As long as there was one person left faithful to the Dark Lord, to carry on his dream. She didn't care what it took, she didn't care if it meant sacrificing the little sanity she had left these days, if she couldn't find him she would take over his work. She would be his legacy. She alone would make sure that if he was dead, he hadn't died in vain. No one so much as glanced at the witch as she walked through the crowds in Diagon Alley looking for an Auror or anyone who would know anything. Even as powerful as she was she wouldn't dare walk down this alley under any other circumstances unless she was told to but everyone was too busy in their celebrations to notice her.

The witch's chest rose and fell steadily with each breath she took, her eyes continuously darting through the alley, looking for a familiar face. There she was, as plain as day, a familiar face. A dangerous smirk set itself on the witch's lips before she turned, redirecting her course for the witch who now had her back to Bellatrix. Walking up behind her Bellatrix put her hand on the witches shoulder before both the witches disappeared in a puff of black smoke causing a few shrieks and gasps to erupt from the crowd.

Arriving in the empty Forest of Dean Bellatrix let go of the witch before pushing her to the ground with a lazy shove. Lowering her hood, Bellatrix smirked as she watched the witch's eyes light up in surprise pulling her wand out before her victim could say or do anything.

"Longbottom," Bellatrix hissed obviously far from happy at having to get information from this source. "Where is he?" she demanded as she took a step back away from Alice Longbottom, raising her wand as she did. "ANSWER ME!" the witch shrieked, her eyes widening as she did so. "CRUCIO!"

Over the years the sounds of men and woman's screams and pleads had become somewhat natural to Bellatrix, a second language spoken only by those unfortunate enough to do something to anger the short tempered witch. There had only been a rare few occasions in which Bellatrix had had the Cruciatus curse used on herself, most occasions having been delivered by Lord Voldemort when she had done something to upset him. Although this was a very rare occurrence Bellatrix knew that she deserved everyone of her punishments and took them without screaming. It was weakness to scream when she knew she had done wrong. It wasn't easy to not make a sound when the most powerful wizard that ever lived was torturing you and much to Bellatrix's displeasure she hadn't managed to take her punishments without a sound. Each time small whimpers would escape out of the witch's lips however, never once would these whimpers turn into pleas to stop like had happened to so any other of his victims.

Despite knowing how the people she was using the spell on were feeling Bellatrix felt no pity towards them. Not once had she regretted torturing an individual and that was the same tonight. Lifting the curse off the screaming witch, Bellatrix took a step forward, her wand still raised, a reminder of what would happen if Alice weren't too cooperate and give Bellatrix the information she needed.

"I-I-I don't know anything..." Alice eventually managed to gasp out, earning no sympathy from the crazed witch before her who simply shot another Cruciatus curse at her.

"Well _think_! Use that brain of yours, Longbottom!" Bellatrix spat at the woman as she slowly lifted the curse again. It was quite possible that her curse was stronger tonight, it certainly _felt_ stronger. Never had the information ever been so critical, not even when Snape had found out about the prophecy. Maybe that was the reasoning as to why her curses felt stronger, then again, maybe she was just imagining it, maybe the last piece of sanity she had had escaped her, she doubted it though.

Finally it became obvious that the witch really did know nothing about the Dark Lords disappearance and Bellatrix had no other choice but the let her go. "You are going to go to work and find out the information I need. I will be back, soon, and if you don't have my information, you will die, and it will not be pleasant, it will not be quick. It will hurt, a lot. Do I make myself clear?"

Quickly the witch nodded, desperate for the torture to stop, at any price. Although Bellatrix knew full well that Alice probably wouldn't find out anything of use she had to try, she had to find her master at all costs, even if it meant roaming the world for years, searching every single centimetre, torturing every Ministry Official she found. Alice was still shaking when Bellatrix lifted her hood once more and turned around, walking in the opposite direction, leaving the witch weak on the forest floor.

No doubt Alice would alert the other Aurors about what had happened tonight with the Death Eater but whether she did or didn't alert them it didn't make any difference to Bellatrix. For years now the Ministry had been trying to capture her and every one of their attempts had failed. There was no way this would be any different, after all, she wasn't the Dark Lords most devoted lieutenant for nothing.


End file.
